Stainless steel headers

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MeZapU

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Feb 12, 2011
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Location
Southery, UK
My Car
12 GT
73 Mach 1
85 GT
66 F-100
In my internet searching I came across these long tube headers made by a company I've never heard of before. OBX. They seem to do pretty good work. True 304 stainless steel. And the price is not bad either at only $400. I wonder when I have the money if I should give them a try.

Link to e-bay ad

Link to their home page

 
I went with the Hooker Competition ceramic-coated headers, and they're awesome. They also seem to be running cooler than standard exhaust manifolds and headers as well - which is huge.

 
I have hedman ceramic headers on mine and I had to send them back already because they started rusting. I got them back and about a year and a half later I have to send them back again because they are starting to rust again. Their coating warranty is only for 5 years so I need to send them back soon so it don't run out, but it costs me around $75 to ship them each time. I would look into stainless headers. Getting sick of mine rusting. Mine very rarely sees rain, only if caught in a downpour coming or going from a show. And its stored in a heated garage.

 
Do you "feel" any performance gain?
I haven't even had mine out on the road yet, so I can't actually answer that. I just noticed that using the laser thermometer on many occasions, the temps are drastically cooler on the ceramic coated headers I have, compared to a set of painted headers on another guy's car... by over 150 degrees in most cases. I thought that was significant.

 
I noticed a huge decrease in the under hood temps with the ceramic headers. I am using the Hooker Super Comp ones. I have about 60 miles on the car now and can't say if it increases performance but I do know that the engine temp stays between 180 to 190 degrees right now. Half the times only one of the fans is running.

 
I've had ceramic coated 2V Hooker Super Comps on my car for about 16 years now. Unless you never drive them in the rain or live in a dry climate, they will rust. I was so disappointed after I started seeing them rust but I had no way of doing anything about it before the warranty ran out. I was stationed overseas, life, deployments, other work priorities... I am not worried at all about discoloration. I just don't want them getting scabby. I'm going to be moving up to 4V heads with my new engine and Hooker does not make a set of ceramic Super Comp 4V headers for $450. They do in regular Competition Headers though but they are only a 1 3/4" primary tube diameter.

 
Wrapping headers is the most effective way to reduce under hood temperatures, although not the most aesthetically pleasing. Wrapping also tends to rust out the headers faster. However, wrapped stainless steel headers should never rust out, with the downside, of course, being the appearance.

 
I have had 2 sets of ceramic coated headers and the coating always gets messed up within a year. I don't drive much, just car shows, joy rides.

I was going to get my header re coated but it cost like 250$ - 300$ to coat them then they will bubble peal again. I found some SS shorty header on Ebay for less then the price to plate the old headers. I'm going to give them a try.



 
OK. I have a set of headman headers. I purchased them un-coated for this reason. I took them to my local shop and had the coated on the outside with matt black Cera-Kote and the inside coated with insul-kote. Been running them over two years including getting banged around a little bit when going in first time and when I pull the motor and had to reinstall them. They still look they day I got them back from the shop. They charged my $250 for the set. You can put your hands down by the plugs while t is running without gloves and not burn your hands. Best money I've spent.

 
I have had 2 sets of ceramic coated headers and the coating always gets messed up within a year. I don't drive much, just car shows, joy rides.

I was going to get my header re coated but it cost like 250$ - 300$ to coat them then they will bubble peal again. I found some SS shorty header on Ebay for less then the price to plate the old headers. I'm going to give them a try.

 
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